Mississippi State University students took an agriculture pop quiz Thursday that came straight from the top.
Kathleen Merrigan, deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, stopped by Bost Extension Center on the MSU campus as part of a nationwide campaign for the USDA”s “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” program. The educational campaign is aimed at clarifying the links between food consumers, food producers and food commerce, from the supermarket to the farmer”s market.
In Bost”s auditorium, Merrigan posed multiple-choice questions to students to test their knowledge of farming in the United States. Students punched a letter on their remote clickers to vote for the answer and got the majority right. But the quiz offered plenty of food for thought.
Did you know that farmers, on the whole, see only 19 cents of every dollar spent on food at the retail level? Or that the average life span of a chicken — Mississippi”s most lucrative export — from birth to entree is six months?
“A lot of people think it”s one year. There”s a disconnect between the people and the food system,” said Merrigan.
The “Know Your Farmer” tour is designed to close the gap. Especially among the next generation of agriculture producers and consumers.
Merrigan stumped for farm insurance, pointing out the vulnerability of farmers to the elements and the high-dollar cost of doing business, which are driving mid-level farms out of the picture.
She also pitched careers with the USDA, which apparently is seeing the majority of its employees reach retirement age with too few young replacements behind them; as are farmers. Merrigan said the country needs 100,000 new farmers every year “but we don”t have sufficient tools to incent people.”
The food industry has evolved along with the changes the best it can, spawning websites like food-hub.org, which connects farmers and consumers without a middle-man. Merrigan told the story of a school district buying 200 pounds of radishes through the site.
She segued into the “Know Your Food” section noting the USDA isn”t just about fighting for farm subsidies. The biggest department of the USDA is nutrition assistance.
To that end, she spoke of how one in seven Americans is enrolled in the USDA”s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps, and how a lack of access to healthy food is causing both hunger and obesity. In Detroit, she said, the poorest citizens pay too much for unhealthy food at convenience stores because all the supermarkets fled to the suburbs.
But people do have power to demand healthy, locally grown food. In North Carolina, for instance, Merrigan points to The 10% Campaign, which encourages spending a tenth of grocery bills on local foods. At Tufts University she said students demanded more locally grown food in the cafeteria and got it.
“That”s one thing student groups can do. They might talk to the dining director,” she said.
Anyone interested in growing their own food also has an asset in the USDA, which helps with loans, grants and technical advice. The department is currently incubating new farmers with its Transition Incentive Program, which matches ambitious new farmers with experienced farmers looking to retire and turn over their land.
Among remaining farmers, business is improving.
“Last year was a good year in terms of prices and production,” said Merrigan. “But everyone is still trying to get back on their feet after 2009, which was a tough year for farmers across the country. Looking at the farm forecast for 2011, everything is looking good. But sometimes farmers need a couple good years to make up for the bad years. People are catching up.”
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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